The Evolution of the BMW Art Car

It’s 40 years this year since the first BMW Art Car was shown to the world for the first time.

In 1975, French racing driver and art enthusiast Hervé Poulain asked artist and friend Alexander Calder to design his BMW race car. The brightly coloured 3.0 CSL was an instant crowd’s favourite when it lined up at Le Mans. The BMW Art Car was born.

Since then, 16 more BMW Art Cars have been added to the BMW Art Car Collection, with unique works of art from artists such as Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, David Hockney and Jeff Koons. The cars are a mixture of production and race models.

Some of the cars are displayed at the BMW Museum in Munich while the remaining BMW Art Cars travel the globe to attend art fairs in Los Angeles, London and Hong Kong, as well as exhibitions at the Louvre, the Guggenheim and the Museum of Contemporary Art Shanghai.